The company bluShift Aerospace, a Brunswick-based NewSpace startup, has selected Steuben, ME as the site of Maine’s first sustainable Space Complex. “The Town of Steuben has the right geography, the right people, and the right attitude for this exciting opportunity,” said Steuben Board of Selectmen Chair Larry Pinkham. “We could not be more pleased to partner with bluShift Aerospace and to join the NewSpace race.” The town was allegedly eager to apply for consideration. Previously, Steuben had turned down the Jackson Laboratory, the Maine biological laboratory now on Mount Desert Island.“I’m pretty sure that the residents of the Steuben didn’t want to make that kind of mistake again,” Pinkham said.The company hopes to launch 4-6 rockets to space via a lift-boat (a large flat boat with long retractable legs that can be lowered to the ocean floor) initially with a maximum of 32 rockets annually. Rocket launches will occur from April through October, and result in a rocket manufacturing facility supporting up to 200 jobs within 5-7 years, according to bluShift.Maine was selected because, “unlike other U.S. locations, it can offer a safe polar orbit trajectory over the Atlantic Ocean that does not endanger human populations or wildlife,” said bluShift Founder and CEO Sascha Deri.And for Maine’s beloved lobster, the biofuel used by bluShift poses no risk to local marine life according to Dr. Robert Bayer, professor emeritus at the University of Maine. Bayer conducted a weeks-long study using biofuel samples, concluding “All I can say is this fuel is completely harmless as far as the marine environment is concerned.”The company has raised more than $1 million in capital investments locally and nationally and is positioned to be part of a $28 billion industry by 2030 according to Frost & Sullivan, a market analysis firm. Kevin Craig is a contributing Fellow through the Emma Bowen Foundation. Keep up with his work @khcraig20 on Twitter.